Branislav Ivanovic has arguably been Chelsea’s most consistent performer over the past couple of seasons and the West London club will be loathed to lose the 28 year old defender but if the Stamford Bridge side do not secure Champions League football for next term then the temptation for the powerful defender to push for a move to the Spanish giants will become all too great.

Ivanovic has proved himself very effective at both centre and right back and has therefore been an adaptable tool who has filled both slots as and when needed, he has also become a very useful goal-scoring option at set pieces and has notched up 154 appearances and 13 goals since his £9m move from Lokomotiv Moscow to West London back in January 2008.

In fairness the £12m tag stated by this source seems a little cheap given the quality of the player and the transfer market as it currently is and it seems highly unlikely that even at an increased rate that Roman Abramovich would consider selling the player to former Blues boss Jose Mourinho.

The Real Madrid boss may well be looking for a long term replacement for veteran Ricardo Carvalho and Ivanovic may well fit the bill nicely.